A community in Victoria's east have reacted with shock this morning, after it was given five hours' notice it was going into a snap seven-day lockdown.
Key points:
- Twenty-two people have contracted COVID in the Latrobe Valley
- One person is in hospital following the outbreak, and 19 households affected
- Local businesses complain they were only given five hours' notice of the lockdown
City of Latrobe residents were ordered into lockdown from midnight last night, after cases in the region jumped yesterday to 22, with more than a dozen reported yesterday.
At least one COVID-positive local is in hospital and authorities say 19 households are being contacted as close contacts of the cases in the Latrobe Valley.
Twenty-three exposure sites have been listed in the region — with two of them, Repco auto parts stores in Morwell and Traralgon, rated as tier one sites. Anyone who has been to the stores during the exposure period is required to get tested and isolate for two weeks.
ABC Gippsland: Emma Field
)'Massive disappointment' at short notice
State member for Morwell Russell Northe says the community should have been given more notice about the sudden lockdown.
"The feedback is one of massive disappointment, particularly given the limited time that people can prepare for the new restrictions," he said.
"This is a really blunt instrument that's going to affect people so many people in so many different ways."
Business groups are also furious with the announcement being made via a media release and with no formal press conference.
"We have just seen that local government areas can be locked down at the snap of the finger," Traralgon Chamber of Commerce president Luke Henderson said.
"Businesses can't cope with that; they have staff, phones start ringing, but the answers aren't there."
"There should have been a press conference at eight o'clock last night, to answer the questions, and give people some understanding of what this seven-day lockdown means."
ABC Gippsland: Jarrod Whittaker
)Origin a mystery as authorities investigate illegal party
The state's COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar defended the decision to lock down the region, which has one of eastern Victoria's lowest vaccination rates with only 44.9 per cent of residents fully vaccinated.
"This is a judgment call, a very difficult judgment call ... the Chief Health Officer does not send areas into lockdown lightly," he said.
Mr Weimar said notification late yesterday of another four positive cases in the Latrobe Valley outbreak "really made us feel much more concerned."
"And we wanted to make sure that we stopped it there in its tracks," Mr Weimar said.
He said the source of the cases is still a mystery, but so far 80 people are close contacts of the positive cases, with 19 households caught up in the outbreak.
He confirmed they are investigating a large household gathering in the region that could have spread the virus.
"I know there was significant number of families that were apparently together for, allegedly, a party of some sort," he said.
' Blunt instrument': Local shock at Latrobe Valley's snap lockdown - ABC News
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